Andriy Valentynov


Andriy Valentynov / Andrey Valentinov is the pen name of a Ukrainian Russian-speaking science/fantasy fiction writer Andriy Valentynovych Shmalko. Valentinov is a distinguished Ukrainian historian and archaeologist and works as an associate professor at Ukrainian studies department of Kharkiv National University. He resides in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and writes in Russian. Valentinov collaborates with other Russophone Ukrainian writers, such as H. L. Oldie and Marina and Sergey Dyachenko.
Valentinov's genre is often defined as cryptohistory. He is the author of 40 novels, about 50 stories and more than 60 essays about the problems of contemporary speculative literature. He has 164 science fiction and fantasy literary awards. At Eurocon 2013 in Kyiv, the European Science Fiction Society named Valentinov Europe's best writer of 2013.
Valentinov resides and works from Kharkiv, Ukraine. Valentinov has often collaborates with other Ukrainian-born Russophone writers, such as H. L. Oldie and Marina and Sergey Dyachenko.

Biography

Andriy Shmalko was born in Kharkiv, Soviet Ukraine, on March 18, 1958. He began writing poetry in 1970, and wrote his first novel while at school. His first pen name was Alexander Nexø. From 1978 till early 2000s he was participating in different archaeological expeditions exploring the sites of Khazar culture, Scythian burial mounds, Genoese castle and especially his favourite Chersonesus, an ancient Greek colony founded approximately 2,500 years ago in the south-western part of the Crimean Peninsula.
In 1980 he graduated from Kharkiv National University and became a school teacher of history. From 1982 till 1985 he was a post-graduate student at the Department of Ancient and Medieval History of Kharkiv National University. In 1985 he defended his PhD dissertation in Ancient History, Roman Policy in the Southern Black Sea Region in the 1st Century BC. From 1985 to 1992 he taught history at Kharkiv University of Arts, also known as the Kharkiv Conservatory, where he introduced the first course of the Bible Studies in Ukraine that used to be a primarily atheistic state during the Soviet times.
In 1992 he finished his novel The Oversteps, which was published in 1995 under the pen name of Andrey Valentinov.
Valentinov is married.

Main Images and Motifs

Valentinov creates his fictional world with the help of the repeating themes, images and motifs. One of them is about the people or race of Dhars. The etymology of their names might be Aryan, Eastern, Celtic or Slavic. According to Valentinov, they are ambiguous creatures: half human, half bearlike, whose origin is very ancient and mysterious. The Dhars live in different places of the world and are endangered because of many enemies, from ignorant cruel people to the evil forces. They keep ancient secret knowledge and have psychic abilities. They usually look like humans, but some of them can transform into werebears. The Dhars might be the descendants of fallen angels and human females. Valentinov suggests that King Arthur whose name meant “bear” was one of them. They are presented in many Valentinov's books, especially in the Logrian series and The Eye of Power Series.

Novels and Series

Mythological, Heroic and Epic Fantasy

Mycenaean Series

The events take place in Ancient Greece.
Oriya Cycle

The historical and mythological fantasy based on the Eastern European history of the Migration Period.
  • 1997 Violators of Equilibrium
  • 1997 If the Death Wakes
  • 2000 Seal on Your Heart
  • 2000 ''… Taller Than the Linchpin''

    Cryptohistory, Heroic Fantasy, Magic Realism and Mysticism

The Eye of Power Series

The famous cycle is based on the Russian history of the 20th century.
1996 The first trilogy :
  • 1. Chelkel Volunteers
  • 2. The Guardian of The Wound
  • 3. The Light Bearer
1997 The second trilogy :
  • 1. You Who Is Tired of Hatred
  • 2. It Does Not Hurt Me
  • 3. Orpheus and Nike
1995-1997 The third trilogy :
  • 1. The Oversteps
  • 2. The Challenge
  • 3. The Cohort
2010-2011 The fourth trilogy :
  • 1. Tsar Space
  • 2. General March
  • 3. Wolfhound Century
The Logres
1998 The Boundary.

The alternative fantasy world, fictional Gogol’s Ukraine of the 16-18th centuries and the Cabbalistic cosmogony are presented.

  • Book 1: Orphans Cost a Lot in Winter
  • Book 2: The Time to Break Rules
Spartacus Series

The history of Rome in the 1st century BC and especially the slave uprising are analyzed from the alternative perspective
  • 2002 Spartacus
  • 2006 ''The Angel of Spartacus''

    Historical Prose

  • 2000 The Phlegethon .
  • 2002 Canis Major Constellation .

    [Magic Realism], City Fantasy and Biblical Motifs

Dilogy 1999 We Are to Live Here :
  • Armageddon Happened Yesterday
  • Blood is Drunk From The Cupped Hands
The dystopian events take place in the post-apocalyptic City that resembles Kharkiv, Ukraine, the native city of the authors.
2006 Shooter

Modern Kharkiv, Ukraine, and the events in different countries dated from 1922 till the present time are given through the lenses of the Shooters that are the Knights of the Grand Dame with scythe.
2013 Fortress Of My Soul

The setting resembles the dilogy We Are to Live Here. The realities of modern City and the Old Testament are intermingled and interconnected.
  • Birthright
  • Nine Days
  • ''Dawn of Sodom''

    Horror and Mysticism

2005 The Pentacle : the novel-cycle of 30 short stories, written in collaboration with Henry Lion Oldie and Marina and Sergey Dyachenko — Best novel award at the festival "Star Bridge".

The setting is primarily mystic Ukraine of different times.

Speculative Philosophical and Psychological Fiction ([Noosphere] Cycle)

The books of this cycle are based on the idea that there is a parallel universal reality made by our thoughts and dreams named Noosphere or Hypnosphere that is open for some people under some circumstances and allows them to live after death, to travel through time and place and to change the real world where we live.
  • 2003 Sphere
  • 2005 Omega
  • 2006 Dimon
  • 2007 Captain Philibert
  • 2013 Noir .

    Chronoopera and [Steampunk]

2011 Alumen

European technical progress of the 18-19th centuries is presented from the perspective of the metaphysical struggle between the rational scientific and irrational occult forces.
  • 2008 Book 1: The Mechanism of Time
  • 2009 Book 2: The Mechanism of Space
  • 2009 Book 3: ''The Mechanism of Life''

    [Alternate History]

2017-2018 Argentina Series
The first trilogy :
  • 2017 Book 1: Quentin
  • 2017 Book 2: Krabat
  • 2017 Book 3: Cage
The second trilogy :
  • 2018 Book 1: Lounge
  • 2018 Book 2: Leichtweiss
  • 2018 Book 3: ''Loki''

    [Black Humour] and [Postmodern] Detective Stories and Novellas

The Collective Authors’ Cycle Commissioner Fuhe’s Adventures
  • 1996 “Golden Goddess”
  • 2001 “A Big Shake”
  • 1996 “Christmas Story”
  • 1996 “The Great Missing”
  • 1996 “Fuhe’s Methods”
  • 2001 “Commissioner Fuhe’s Testament”
  • 2001 “Commissioner Fuhe’s Dissertation”
  • 2001 “Tour of Duty”
  • 2001 “Meeting”
  • 2001 “A Water Pipe”
  • 2001 “Campaign”
  • 2001 “A Little Present”
  • 2001 “My Best Wishes!”
  • 2001 “Nutcase”
  • 2001 “Wholesale”
  • 2002 “Jubilee”
  • 1996 “Justice”

    [Poetry]

1997 ''Catching the Wind''